YOU TEACH LESS, THEY LEARN MORE
CHARLENE ANTONIO ZENG
Gone are the days when the teacher was at the center stage and the students were just on the receiving end. The teacher has to get more students involved in the teaching process, this time calling for more learning on their part and conversely lessening his directive mode from being a teacher-monopolized into student-directed. Nowadays, learners’span of attention is little and the more teacher talks, the more risk of reducing their interests in learning. Learners tend to work with their hands and minds rather than listening and watching demonstrations. They want to be part of the class by sharing their ideas, manipulating the models of your instruction, giving their conjectures in an experiment, and the like. These actions of involvement lead in maximizing their fullest potential and make the lesson a meaningful one.
Sometimes, learners want to learn with their peers than listening to their teacher. However, it does not mean they do not want to learn from their teachers, it is just that they enjoy learning with their friends with the same age. They feel that there is no gap between them since they are just at the same age and year level. For a teacher, teaching less does not mean you are not giving the 100 % in teaching and just seat down on your chair and provide activities to the students. Facilitating learning does not end at leaving learners to be independent with their learning. It encourages learners to learn by discovery on their own learning process where in teachers become scaffolds. As teachers become facilitators, they do not separate themselves from the learners’focus. They are still there to assist learners in directing what to be learned and what to be mastered. Teachers must work hard to facilitate learning and it is a must for them to monitor learners if they acquired the performance standards set by the department. Learners need to be given some basic ideas and knowledge through direct instruction to which they can attach their future discovery and learning.
To teach less is a way of providing learners the opportunity to experience learning. It is an act of encouraging learners to think critically with the cooperation of their peers and most especially, the teacher.
— oOo— The author is Master Teacher I at Porac Model Community High School